good morning. come on in the room. here we are smack dab in the middle of the week. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on. victims of the shooting spree at ft. hood have been honored at memorial services, but now there is a move in washington to remember them in another way. plus, this granddad says it's a blessing you'd never forget, how long ago military training kicked in to help him save his granddaughter's life. and the gift that keeps on giving or in this case taking from you. extra airline fees are not going to stop when the tinsel and holly come down. remember they said, oh, it's just for the holidays. well, it's an awful long

holiday. first, new details in a 911 call are shedding light on the death of 5-year-old shaniya davis. her body found off a road in north carolina has been positively id'd. authorities in fayetteville are still determining how she died. her mother is accused of prostituting the girl and we now have antoinette davis' 911 call to police. >> well, authorities now say that since shaniya's body has been id'd more charges are on the way. we're expecting to hear from police later on this morning. another suspect, mario mcneill, has been charged with kidnapping. well, hln's nancy grace

talked with shaniya's family last night. 59 ye the 5-year-old's father was too distraught but did come to offer support to shaniya's brother. >> have they told anybody what was the cause of death, byron? >> actually, i haven't heard anything. i don't think my father has either. we're not really sure yet. we're still trying to figure it out now. >> and there is your dad right there. >> yes, ma'am. >> we're going to have more on their emotional interview at the bottom of the hour. i can't imagine what that family is going through. this just in, somali pirates attacked "the maersk alabama" for the second time. guards on the maersk fired back. do you remember it was hijacked in april? pirates took captain richard fill limbs hostage for five

days. navy sharpshooters killed three pirates and freed him. they're going after the same boat. just a few minutes ago president obama landed in seoul, south korea, the last stop in his weeklong asian tour. he left beijing this morning and arrived at the air base. he will be meeting with u.s. troops and has a meeting scheduled with the south korean president. earlier today the president visited the great wall of china and met with the china premier. we have surveillance video that i think is going to make your jaw drop. everything was quiet at a utah oil refinery and then suddenly, bam, a huge explosion the investigators say the fireball soared 100 feet, knocked a nearby home off its foundation and damaged almost 100 others. thankfully, amazingly, nobody was hurt. two weeks later this is still being investigated. the plant has shut down voluntarily.

so your holiday travel's already more expensive because of surcharges at the airlines added on for the busiest days. now we're learning the surcharges are not ending after the new year. money expert, jennifer westhoven, i thought the whole pitch was, this is just for the busy holidays. >> it was just for those busy holidays but then they said, you know, if you're going to pay the fees we'll keep on charging them. delta, northwest and united tried out the holiday surcharges. now they're saying, let's apply them to all the busy travel days through memorial day, some of them are even 50 bucks which if that's one way they might even be $100 roundtrip. we'll see. congress has said they're looking into this. thinking about calling a hearing or making some noise basically. they're worried that this is the way airlines can charge more. because it's not a fare raise, they don't have to pay the same amount of taxes on it. we'll watch. mardi gras was one of them.

spring break was one of them. st. patrick's day. >> and the good times just keep rolling. >> yep. >> all right. thank you very much for the heads-up. one of the soldiers killed at ft. hood is going to be laid to rest today. specialist fred greene was brought back to his hometown in tennessee on sunday. today he will have a full military funeral at the church where he grew up. and house lawmakers have introduced a bill to honor the ft. hood victims in another way. correspondent richard lui will have more on that right now. good morning. good morning to you, robin. if that passes, this bill would make the 12 soldiers killed at ft. hood eligible for the purple heart and civilian victim could get the medal for the defense of free am do. it would give anyone killed or wounded in the attack the same legal status as soldiers killed in combat. now that guarantees their families the maximum life insurance benefit. >> we can never repay or give back what was taken from them but there is the first step toward the healing process, the

military can step up to the plate and make them whole again. >> robin, more than 60 lawmakers have already signed on to that bill. >> some republican lawmakers are also calling for a full congr s congressional investigation into the ft. hood attack. i mean, aren't the army and fbi already looking into this? >> you're right, robin, and president obama has asked congress to wait until that investigation is done. the republican members say changes must be made now to keep something like this from happening again. >> the families of the dead and the wounded deserve to know the truth, but all americans also deserve to know that their government is taking the appropriate steps to make sure they are protected. >> one gop leader said there was a systemic breakdown in the intelligence community but a u.s. intelligence official says, robin, this does not appear to be a case where agencies failed to share information. later we'll have more information on anidal hasan, th suspect. new this morning, two men in

ski masks burst into a florida store at closing and held several employees hostage for several hours. police still have not found the gunman early this morning. all of the hostages got out safely. local media report that a 16-year-old girl was hurt when she was shoved to the ground. police dragged her out on a blanket. so much going on in news today. what about weather? is that adding to the headlines? you bet. here's meteorologist bob van dillen. hi. good morning to you, robin. so far the same storm from yesterday but this time it's not the even moving. it hasn't moved about 500 miles in the last three days. here is the low, the surface low and upper level low right on top of it. it's stacked. when that happens it moves very slowly but it is going to edge up to the northeast the next couple of hours. rain showers and a couple of thunderstorms possible out ahead of this thing today. so far it's a nice, solid sheet into alabama, actually tennessee, kentucky. zoom on in to charleston, south carolina radar. a good slug of moisture north of

charleston all the way in towards myrtle beach. getting some rain right now pulling on into the rest of the carolinas. more rain for you today. it's going to come ashore. you can see it's all spreading up to the north the next couple of days. a good shot of rain from western parts of virginia, west virginia to maryland. the yellow is about 2, 2 1/2 inches of rain as that impulse begins to move up to the north. more rain for you. we have that coming on in towards areas like kentucky and back on in towards right around ohio getting in towards columbus. some light showers there. here's that chicago radar, scattered showers. not heavy but it will be like this all day long. winds out of the east once again. delays out there and then the pacific northwest. here is our first storm coming in. that's from yesterday. here's our second storm coming in. you get the clouds. that's going to be a big time rainmaker, big time wind maker for you, too. it starts overnight tonight and through the weekend. i'll have more on that coming up in a bit. robin? all right, thank you. get this, bob, eggo waffle,

enjoy it because you'll be hard pressed to find eggos -- other brands, too, or is it just that brand? just that brand. it was a frightening moment for a pregnant woman who fell from a s subway platform. the ib credible way that she was rescued.

it is time to salute the troops. come here and join me. today our shout out is to greg yarborough. now his mom is very proud of him, and you can just hear it. hi, robin. this is marianne and i'm saluting my son. he's a corporal in the united states marine corps and, greg, we're so proud of you, of your whole family. we've mishd you so much during your deployment and can't wait

for you to return home. you're such a role model for your younger brother, sister and all your cousins. we're so thankful for all your sacrifices. we miss your practical jokes, your laughing and your bear hugs. be safe and hurry home to us. you rock. >> if you have somebody in the service go to cnn.com/robin. a barking dog and a grandpa who learned cpr in the army 30 years ago save add little girl in texas from drowning. the 2-year-old had fallen into the family pool. she managed to squeeze through a doggie door and she was turning purple when her grandfather began cpr. >> she arched her back and opened her eyes and started moaning, and at that point i was pretty doubtful she was going to be okay. >> the girl spent the day in the hospital but is fine now, thank goodness. now we've told you so much about how the detroit automakers have been struggling. some huge news, though, this morning. and our money expert jennifer westhoven is here.

an american car has been named the best on the road. this is a big win for ford and really for detroit, right, because any good news is a psychological boost for that town. the fusion was named the motor trend car of the year and the magazine says ford did a great job of redesigning and upgrading. every version got some kudos and motor trend even said the fusion, you should consider it on par with the toyota camry and the honda accord. and those are two bestsellers, so those are some great words. i'm sure they're celebrating at ford when they got the news. they're celebrating now, robin, or they have a hangover. one of the biggest problems, we all know, the job market. one of the reasons is small businesses are having a terrible time getting loans and most job growth comes from small companies. you know, how can they grow if they can't get any loans? help is on the way from several places. goldman sachs and warren buffett are investing $500 million

together to help 10,000 small businesses across the country, plus the urban league, they're stepping in. they say they're going to have loans from $5,000 up to $100,000 for small local company likes barber shops, doctors offices, anything kind of in the neighborhood. and today president obama's economic team is going to be meeting with bankers, business owners, policymakers and the whole point that it's a task force to try to do more to help small businesses so that they can hire. robin, back to you. >> all right. thank you, jen. it is starting to turn colder. ew. so we go beyond the surface to find out if what mom used to say is true. do you need to wear a hat to stay warm and avoid catching a cold? >> unfortunately, mom was not exactly right about losing heat from your head. you lose body heat from whatever part is exposed. the real key is what's uncovered

and how much surface area it is. there's nothing special. if you walk around with a hat and no pants or shorts, you're going to lose just as much of your body heat through that and people might think you're a little more crazy. people will often hear that if they go out into the cold or wet weather or go out with wet hair that that's going to make them sick. but it's just not true. the weather has nothing to do with whether or not you get sick. what makes you sick are usually viruses, sometimes bacteria. scientists have done great studies looking at this. it's just not true. >> interesting little tidbits to know. an odd twist in the flu outbreak. it is now affecting some puppets. and a big week for a ballplayer who has overcome major challenges to now be name the best pitch earp in the american league. why zack greinke's cy young award is particularly amazing.

vice president joe biden made his sixth appearance on comedy central's "the dayy show" last night and expressed confusion over the difficulty that the democrats are having getting anything passed in the senate. >> it always strikes me that when the republicans are in the majority it's let's have a straight up and down vote. when the democrats are in the majority it's like, i'm drowning. it's completely baffling to my eyes as i watch it. >> well, you make a good point. >> although last night was biden's sixth appearance on "the daily show" it was his first since being elected vice president. brace yourselves for a waffle shortage. no joke. kellogg's says eggo frozen waffles will be in short supply across the country until next june. now that's from "the atlanta-journal constitution

newspaper." it was flooded back in september. remember all the rain this region had? well, now there are equipment problems at the largest waffle bakery in tennessee. a young pitcher overcame anxiety and depression to win the most prestigious award for his position. so here's rafer with a great comeback story. it really is, robin. it's a great success story and hopefully it will be inspiring to other people who may also suffer interest the same condition. zack greinke of the kansas city royals, call it a royal comeback, now there was a lot of hype when he first came into the league but he struggled, the young man. in fact, he even left the team in february of 2006 and got a lot of criticism when he did. well, during that time he was diagnosised with social anxiety disorder and depression. now he was named the best pitcher out of hundreds in the american league earning the cy young award and he did it on a losing team which is rare and it's a big week for him. he marries his high school sweetheart on saturday.

a kansas city castoff is getting a second chance. larry johnson run out of town after several incidents including using gay slurs and attacking his coach on twitter was signed by cincinnati. cincinnati has become the city of second chances. they also signed chicago castoff cedric benson who was arrested allegedly for boating while intoxicated and he's one of the best running backs in the league. maybe larry will turn it around. tila tequila filed a lawsuit against linebacker shawne merriman alleging domestic violence, seeking $1.5 million. the star of "a shot at love" accused merriman of battery, false imprisonment after a party. the d.a. did not press charges, though. lastly let's tear some stuff down. reunion arena, the former home of the dallas mavericks, was demolished tuesday. look at it fall. >> wow. >> and there it goes. 29-year-old building collapsed inward in a wave like formation.

but get this, they didn't use explosives. they hammered away at two supporting columns and that's how it fell down and they all got away in time. >> i was going to say, wait a minute. >> no, they were hammering and it started falling. >> that seems kind of risky. thank you. new york city police raided the offices of some high-profile newspapers as part of a corruption probe. officers searched the circulation and delivery offices of "the new york times," "the new york post," be "the daily news" and "diarrio." the union is not commenting. the health care bill that passed the house may not be popular with a lot of people. but some parts of it are. new this morning, a cnn/opinion research poll shows americans are evenly split over a rule that would require health insurance for all americans. and they're strongly against

using public funds for abortion. that's something conservative democrats insisted upon before supporting the bill. the first photos are circulating from levi johnston's new "playgirl" pictorial. please, let's not and say we did. we'll see if he really did drop his levis. oh, levi. y8%%%%%%%%%%%

already this year the number of soldiers who committed suicide is at an all-time high. the army vice chief of staff says that so far 211 soldiers have taken their own lives but he says that in recent months not as many have committed suicide and it could show that the army's prevention programs are working. just in this morning, somali pirates attacked "the maersk alabama" again. they fired automatic weapons at the ship. remember it was hijacked in april. pirates took the captain, richard phillips, hostage. sharpshooters helped free him

five days later. elizabeth smart's father says he's willing to forgive the woman who pled guilty to kidnapping the girl. wanda barzee apologized yesterday, although she wasn't in court to hear it. barzee also agreed to cooperate against they are estranged husband who's charged in the case. she'll be sevntenced in may. a wildfire in southern california is expected to be surrounded this afternoon. an orange county fire captain said it's burned since monday, down from earlier estimates. the fire injured three people and did not damage any homes. that's just a few. or those are just a few of the headlines that we're following for you. did you get the coffeemaker going this morning? yeah, i see you. more charges are expected today in the death of 5-year-old shaniya davis. her body was positively identified yet in north carolina. she had been missing to are a week. hln's nancy grace talked with shaniya's family last night.

her father was too distraught to talk on camera but he did come out and offer support to shaniya's brother. >> have they told anybody what was the cause of death, byron? >> actually, i haven't heard anything. i don't think my father has either. we're not really sure too much yet. we're still trying to figure it out now. >> and there is your dad right there. >> yes, ma'am. >> would you please -- >> i really do want to thank everybody for the support and prayers. it really does mean a lot. everybody is staying strong as we're trying to. i know it's hard but for the mothers out there, please don't let this happen to your child. >> the girl's mother is accused of prostituting the girl. the h1n1 outbreak is now affecting puppets? libraries around minneapolis are

keeping puppets out of the public areas for now. a librarian says the puppets are hard to disinfect and that little kids put them on their hands and faces but no way to know if they have gotten anybody sick. workers can still use them during the story time there. new details this morning about the man accused of gunning down 13 people at ft. hood. media reports say that right before the attack, major nidal hasan tried to turn in some of his patients for war crimes. correspondent richard lui joins us now. makes me wonder about patient/doctor privilege/confidentiality. we're going to get to that. major hasan work as a military psychiatrist a. captain who worked at ft. hood said hasan thought some of his patients had c confessed to war crimes during their sessions. now he asked superiors to press criminal charges but they reportedly ignored or rebuffed hasan's efforts several times. the last e-mail exchanged on the matter, robin, were just a few days before that attack. >> okay, not to sound like a

broken record, but wouldn't that have been a breach? >> that is the core issue here, robin. it depend on what kind of information major hasan had. we don't know that as of yet. if they had confessed legitimate war crimes, rules would have required hasan to tell his superiors. >> possible suspected or alleged violations of the law of war do have to be reported. so it looks like there's at least a plausible argument that he was under an obligation to report. >> military psychiatrists say they hope hasan's actions will not scare others away from talking about what they've been through in combat which is understandable, robin. >> thank you for the latest on that case. president obama says that we should not be afraid of putting 9/11 suspects on trial. the suspected mastermind and four others will be tried in new

york. many republicans oppose it say that puts the city in danger. now president obama talked with our sister network cnn about the controversy. >> i think this notion that somehow we have to be fearful, these terrorists possess some special power that prevents us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and, you know, exacting swift justice, i think that has been a fundamental mistake. >> the new york mayor michael bloomberg said the city can handle it. good morning. if you're just kind of shaking the sleep out of your eyes this morning, it's 35 minutes past the hour. what kind of day do you have on tap? i don't know if you noticed it, but it's a lot cooler in many par parts. good morning. it's the same storm, too. mid levels of the atmosphere, robin, not moving very fast at all. you see all the rain pinwheeling around this storm. it's actually centered right now near missouri into illinois with

just some steady rain moving into central ohio. it's dropping down all the way into the carolina mountains. more rain coming in right across the south carolina beach. here is that charleston radar right out of south carolina. look at the heavy slug of moisture north of the city all moving inland past myrtle beach and that will go all the way in to the central carolinas and watch that rain up to the north as that impulse rides the great lakes and the northeast. where you see this yellow shading coming in, northern virginia, parts of west virginia and maryland, 2, 2 1/2 inches of rain. most of that falls overnight tonight through tomorrow as that whole thing moves up to the north. look at the radar picture coming right on in towards ohio. again, some decent rain. here is that chicago radar, too. light scattered showers out there. the clouds are in. watch for the delays out there at the airports, midway and o'hare. i'll have more on that in a bit. the pacific northwest, here is your cold front. that's what came in yesterday and the day before.

behind it you saw the wind right off the ocean but notice the big, bright clouds off to the west. that's another storm. that slams on into the coast overnight tonight into tomorrow and there's one behind it. heavy rain, lots of wind, even snow across the higher elevations specifically for seattle down through portland. trying to get in or out of the pacific northwest you'll see some problems out there especially this afternoon through tonight and into saturday morning. we'll talk about that in about a half hour. >> thank you very much. conservative commentator ann coulter and joy behar have opinions about sarah palin's presidential aspirations. check this out from "the joy bow har show." a new poll is showing 70% of americans are showing sarah palin is not qualified to be president. my question is, who are the 30% that think she is besides you, ann? >> yes, well, there's me. >> there's you. >> i guess -- i mean, for one thing it's definitely the americans who are not swayed by

what the mainstream media says. i don't know whether she can overcome those numbers. if that poll is accurate and if it continues that way, okay, i guess she probably can't run for president. but there have been some very popular and very successful preside presidents who have been down in the polls before they became president like ronald reagan and bush and -- i don't think obama was ever down in the polls, was he. >> you're scaring me now that you mentioned the two of them. >> tonight joy will talk be to singer olivia newton-john, a breast cancer survivor, who will weigh in on new mammogram guidelines which go against everything you've been told for years. that's at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. how well do you think your car would protect you if you were in an accident? some experts put different cars to the test and you might be surprised which is at the top of the list.

a pregnant woman doesn't know who to thank for pulling her from the path of a subway train in brooklyn. she tells affiliate wabc she was waiting for the train and got light headed, passed out and fell onto the tracks. a witness says that two strangers jumped onto the tracks to get her. >> they were like superman. they didn't hesitate. they took off their suit jackets, they jumped in, they lifted her and we all helped them get back on because we weren't sure if a train was coming. >> god was really watching out for me and watching out for the baby. >> well, the woman bruised her face but she and the baby are reportedly okay. what's that? >> a big drop. you may not see it in the pictures, but it's a good

6 1/2-foot drop down there. >> wow. she could have been hurt in the fall nevertheless the train. i'm glad she's okay, too. you know what, folks, as you head out of the house this morning, are you riding in one of the safest cars on the road? you might be. money expert jennifer westhoven has more on the lineup. good morning. thanks, robin. this is the annual insurance industry gets all the latest batch of new cars and then they just smash them up to see how they do, the insurance industry, and what they found this year in the new batch of cars ford did the best. well, ford owns volvo so that's partially why, but subaru and volkswagen did very well. now here's the thing. this year far fewer cars made the cut. only 27 got the top safety pick, but the industry group says, hey, that's because they made the tests a lot tougher this year and they also started looking at the roof and if you think about the roof, that is a big deal in some of the suvs because it factors in some of the roll over crashes so they made that part and parcel of getting a top safety pick.

the white house wants to send a message. they are saying they are looking after your money. the president's budget director said they found $98 billion in improper payments last year from outright fraud to reimbursements that just went to the wrong person. now that's up 37% but this is another one of these cases where they're saying, well, it's not just the number, though, it's what's behind the number. the fraud number is higher not because there's more fraud but because the government is doing a much better job of tracking all that money so they say we're just getting a much more real picture of what's going on and that's the way by really knowing what's happening how we can fight it. he says the president will issue an executive order in coming days to fight the problem and make sure that the money you make and hand over to the government goes to the right place. robin? >> thank you. you don't need to be a mover and a shaker in hollywood to be a movie mogul, not if you're a master of wong fu.

stephanie elam explains in our "small business success." >> reporter: these three started making short films in 2003 while going to college in california. the buzz they created inspired them to form wong fu productions. asian-american fans watched their work on the web. >> not only are they asian-americans but they're also producing really good stories and showing that asian americans can become something more than just like a side character. >> reporter: the free on line films provide an emotional connection with their core audience. fans then buy clothing and other merchandise. >> we've been able to develop a following that supports us as individuals and us as a group and they want to see us succeed. merchandise is one way of doing this. >> reporter: and they know they have the web to thank for reaching an audience often neglected by mainstream media. ♪ what happened after last

summer ♪ >> it's really leveling the playing field so that everyday people like us can get huge fan bases and huge followings based solely on their talent and personalities. >> if you are a small business owner, we'd like to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin. upload a video i-report, share your tips and you could be featured here on "morning express." an 11-month-old child is found wandering the streets of her neighborhood and now her mom is in jail. >> why did you leave your baby home alone? >> i didn't leave my baby home alone. >> who was she with? >> well, police believe, though, that the mother was doing drugs when her kid was found.

remember the brawl that broke out at a high schoolgirl's soccer game? well, you will when you see the video. rafer has an update on the story. yeah, this was pretty horrific stuff, robin. we played it about a week ago. high school girls, for goodness sake. the interscholastic lead suspended nine players for this fight that broke out in the last minute of the state championship. this was about a week ago when this happened. now the suspension -- >> it's a state championship no less. >> state championship, high school kids. now their season's over but the suspensions are going to range up to two games to even up to a year and both coaches 0 were penalized. the fight carried over into the stands which canceled the awards ceremony. the coaches and the kids were not specifically named. and more shame for the tennessee football program. police say another player, nyshier oliver was allegedly arrested for trying to shoplift a $10 shirt, four days before

coach lane kiffin bragged about his team having no arrests and a week before three other freshmen were arrested for attempted armed robbery. this is video of those arrests of two of the players who were kicked often the team. and perhaps a sign of optimism, the boston red sox are raising some ticket prizes next year by as much as $5. they froze ticket price this is year but set a record for attendance so field seats for individual games will go for $130 and green monster seats will rise to $165. to be fair most other ticket price also stay the same and i hear the cubs might be raising prices as well. >> what? >> maybe the economy is turning around. the real estate market is not. the silverdome stadium in michigan sold for the price of a one-bedroom manhattan apartment. this is the former home of the lions, $583,000 at auction. to a canadian real estate group. the whole 80,000-seat-plus building, be $500,000.

>> what are they going to do with it? >> they want to host some events. it will cost the city $ .5 good for them. in the next half hour, a baseball player overcomes a major obstacle to win a major award. we'll have it. >> a good story coming up, too. thank you. do you work at a place that has a 401(k) plan? if you don't, hln money expert clark howard has information about a savings plan that won't leave you out in the cold when you do retire. >> in the world of haves and have nots, there's something i want to make you really aware of. somewhere close to half of us work for smaller employers that offer no retirement plan whatsoever. the other half of us work at places that might have a 401(k) plan or nonprofit 3b plan. a 457. in all the plan, the idea is savings becomes automatic.

money comes out of your paycheck before you receive it. in fact, most employers with 401(k) plans when you start working there automatically enroll you, and most people once automatically enrolled save. here's the problem. the big job growth in america is with much smaller employer, none of which -- not none, virtually none offer retirement plans. who's got to take care of that? you do. you've got to set out on your own to save money, and my favorite place, a roth account. get it done, or else you'll be broke later. i'm clark howard. for more of my opinions about how to fatten your wallet go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> he's the dude to teach you how to stave more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him noon eastern on saturday and sunday right here on hln. check out this high-speed chase with a suspected bank robber in north carolina. police say that he tossed the money out the window. well a truck eventually helped

box him in. the cops caught up with him. officers say at times he was going up to 120 miles an hour. late last night there were three employees from a store that burst out the front door. that escape began a standoff that lasted for hours between police and two armed men.